Shuttleless loom



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,SHUTTLELESS LOOM Filed Jan. 16, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORJohnEBurbank.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,457,964 SHUTTLELESS LOOM John EmersonBurbank, Middlebury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company,Waterbury, C0nn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Jan. 16, 1968, Ser.No. 698,182 Int. Cl. D03d 41/00 US. Cl. 13911 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A shuttleless loom for weaving a preformed zipper fastenerstrip into the edge of a tape imparts motions to the laying needle whichwill move the weft thread alternately over and under the fastener stripso as to avoid any high frequency up and down movement of the fastenerstrip. Preferably also a tilting movement is simultaneously imparted tothe needle so as to bring the weft loop always to the same place whenthe needle is projected through a shed from above or under the fastenerstrip to permit the formation of a selvage edge by a single knittingneedle in the usual way.

This invention relates to shuttleless looms, which are sometimes calledneedle looms, for weaving a fastener strip into one edge of a tape thusavoiding a separate sewing operation. It is intended primarily forfastener strips made of filamentary plastic material formed into aserpentine shape or more commonly a coil. Such strips are quite flimsyand difficult to control before they are secured to a tape.

One example of a loom for weaving coils into a tape is shown in theHendley Patent No. 3,123,103. Here, a complicated mechanism is requiredfor feeding and guiding the coil because it must have a sheddingmovement imparted to it at every cycle of the laying needle. It is anobject of this invention to avoid the necessity for moving the coil inthis manner whereby the loom may not only be made to operate moresmoothly but, what is more important, the coil itself does not have tobe shaken and bent While it is being woven into the tape.

Instead of moving the coil up and down, the weft laying needle isshifted up and down while it is out of the shed to carry the fillerthreads around the coil. Since the weft laying needle moves up and down,it can also move over and under some of the warp threads, thus reducingthe number of heddles required because such warp threads may movestraight into the loom just as the coil.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will occur tothose skilled in the art after an understanding of one specificembodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a loom showing my improved layingneedle actuating means;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation looking at the left side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detailed cross-section on line -44 at the extreme right sideof FIG. 1 on a larger scale;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the laying needle carrier andsome associated parts, and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are schematic plan views showing the weaving operation atthe shedding area of the upper and lower positions respectively of theweft needle.

In general, the weaving operation is similar to that of other needlelooms wherein a needle 8 has, at is free end, an eye 9 for carrying theweft thread 10 into a shed of wrap threads generally indicated by thenumeral 11, a knitting needle 12 picks up each projected double weft andloops it through the preceding double pick to form a knitted selved-geedge in the usual manner. One exception to the general practice is thatonly a portion of the warp threads indicated at 11a in FIG. 4 requiresto be moved by heddles whereas another group indicated at 11b may be fedinto the loom without any shedding movement.

The fastener strip herein shown in the form of a coil 13 is guided intoposition alongside the edge of the woven tape by any suitable means suchas a stationary tube 14. Where the group 11b of warp threads is notbeing shedded, the coil would be fed into position in transversealignment with those warps.

The needle 8 is formed at the end of a shaft 15 which extends throughbearings 16 and 17 of a needle carrier generally designated 18. Bearings16 and 17 are designed to allow shaft 15 rotatable movement only. Up anddown movement of the needle 8 between positions over and under the coil13 and warps 11b takes place about the axis of a pin 19 which isreceived in bearings 20-21 on oppo site sides of an opening 22 in thecarrier 18. Mounted in this opening 22 and also pivoted on the pin 19 isan actuator block 23 having a vertical hole 24 into which fits a crankpin 25. This crank pin is fixed to a gear 26 which is power-driven fromany suitable source of power through drive shaft 27. Since the crank pinis offset with respect to the center line of the drive shaft, theactuator block 23 receives a circular motion as indicated by the dot anddash lines in FIG. 1, which, of course, drives that portion of theneedle carrier at the center line of the bearings 20 and 21 in acircular path.

To obtain the rise and fall motion of the needle 8, the carrier 18 isoscillated as a lever about the pin 19. This action is derived from anouter plate cam 28 on the top surface of a gear 31 mounted on a studshaft 31a and meshing with gear 26. The low portion 29 and the highportion 30 of the cam 28 against which the rounded end 32 of the camfollower pin 33 rides, causes up and down movement as indicated by thearrow 34 in FIG. 5, which is transmitted to the needle carrier 18through the cylindrical end 35 fitting into hole 36 of the carrier. Thisportion of the carrier is held in position on a shoulder 37 of the pin33 by means of a spring 38 attached at one end to an arm 39 and at theother end to the frame 40 of the machine.

The pin 33 is tethered to a link 41 by means of spherical centralportion 42 engaging in a spherical bearing 43 at the free end of link41. The other end of the link 41 has a spherical bearing 44 connectingit to a stationary ball-shaped projection 45 mounted on the end of studshaft 31a. The pin 33 and thus the left end of the carrier 18 as seen inthe drawings, is constrained to move in an arcuate path as indicated bythe arrow 46 in FIG. 1. It will be seen that this combination of acircular movement at the central portion of the carrier 18 and anarcuate movement of the left end will produce an elliptical movement ofthe needle 8 which projects beyond the right end of the carrier. Alayout of the positions of the crank pin 25 indicated by the letters a,b, c, d, will correspond to positions of the needle eye 9 as indicatedby the same letters a, b, c, and a.

With the mechanism so far described, a weaving operation could beaccomplished but it would complicate the problem of knitting thesuccessive loops of weft thread. While this might be done by a verticalneedle, it is preferred to impart to the needle 8, a tilting action sothat always the needle eye will approach the same level at the selvedgeside of the tape whether it is projected from above or below the coil.For this purpose I provide means for tilting the needle about the axisof its shaft 15 in the bearings 16 and 17. This is accomplished by asecond plate cam 47 operating and a follower 48 which extends upwardlythrough a clearance opening 49 in the link 41. This follower 48 isattached to a lever arm 50 which in turn is keyed to the needle shaft15. By means of a suitable timing design of the plate cam 47, the needle8 can be tilted so that it approaches the inner end of its stroke at thecorrect angle to bring the weft thread into line with the knittingneedle 12. This is accomplished by high portions 47a and low portions471). A spring 51 connected between pins 52 and 53 on the needle shaftand carrier resepectively serves to hold the follower 48 always againstthe surface of its claim 47.

I claim that:

1. In a shuttleless loom for weaving a preformed zipper fastener elementstrip (of the continuous filament type) into one edge of a tape, thecombination of:

(a) stationary means for guiding the fastener element strip alongside ashedding area of Warp threads in substantially a constant horizontalplane;

(b) a weft laying needle having a thread receiving eye near its freeend;

(c) means for projecting said needle through and withdrawing it fromeach shed;

(d) means for imparting a second movement to said needle while in itswithdrawn position so as alternately to position it and the weft threadcarried thereby, over and under said fastener element strip; and

(e) means for catching loops of weft thread as projected by said needleand forming a selvage along the other edge of said tape.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, together with means for impartinga third movement to the weft laying needle which will make the path ofthe needle eye angle toward a common point as it is projected eitherfrom its position over the fastener element strip or from its positionunder the fastener element strip.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the needle actuating meansof clause (c) and ((1) included a needle carrier, means for driving anintermediate portion of said carrier in a circular path, a link free topivot about one end with its other end tethered to said needle carrierat a point spaced a substantial distance from said intermediate portion,and means for rocking or oscillating said carrier about an axisextending through said intermediate portion transverse to the axs ofsaid circular path.

4. The combination defined in claim 2 together With a shaft on which theneedle is mounted and means for tilting the needle about the axis ofsaid shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,651,330 9/1953 Mostertz 139-113,123,103 3/1964 Hendley 139-11 3,186,442 6/1965 Gale 1391 18 HENRY S.JAUDON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 139124

